The results of a year-long survey on the parking problems that plague UB students were presented twice on Thursday - and only one student came to hear the outcome.
The presentations, given by Chance Management Advisors of Philadelphia, were held in the Student Union on North Campus and Harriman Hall on South Campus. They dealt with possible parking solutions such as gated lots, the increased number of tickets issued and the feasibility of parking ramps at UB.
Despite the fact that over 4,300 people responded to the survey conducted by the consulting firm, Barbara J. Chance, president and chief executive officer of Chance Management, said only one student was in attendance between the two presentations.
"It's hard for me to believe that nobody cares," said Chance. "We were hoping we would have more (students)."
"It's of much importance for people on campus to be active in communication with parking and transportation services," she added. "It needs to be a two-way street."
Obadiah Harris, a senior sociology major, said he was not aware of the presentations but would have attended because he said parking is a problem.
Eric Breindel, a sophomore theater major who participated in the survey, said he was not aware of the presentation, either, but he would have attended, since he commutes to UB every day.
UB administrators were not discouraged by the lack of student attendance at either presentation.
"The response to the survey was fantastic," said James Nadbrzuch, associate vice president of UB. "Maybe they felt that participating in the survey was enough."
"If I was a student invited to hear a hour-long PowerPoint presentation on parking, on a Thursday afternoon, I'd probably have a soda in the Student Union, too," said Dennis Black, vice president of Student Affairs.
Although only one student attended Thursday's parking presentations, Chance said there were 14 students at a parking forum held in the Ellicott Atrium on Wednesday evening, and they all expressed a high level of interest in the parking problems at UB.
The complete results of the survey are posted on the Campus Parking and Transportation Web site. Chance encouraged all interested students to examine the results.
"It's their parking system," she said.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
